What is Reiki?
In recent years, various energy healing modalities have become popular, but perhaps none more so than Reiki. With nearly 100 years of history in the United States, this classic form of hands-on energy medicine promotes relaxation and stress relief so that the body can heal itself naturally.
What is Reiki?
A form of calming energy healing, Reiki (pronounces Ray-Key) has the ability to alleviate chronic pain, balance mental and emotional disturbances, reduce stress, and promote overall well-being.
In Japanese, Reiki means “universal life force energy.” This is the energy that animates us, is in every living thing, and is found all around us. A Reiki practitioner has been attuned to these energies and has been taught how to channel them. During a Reiki session, the practitioner is not the source of the healing, rather, the channeled Reiki energy is the source of the healing. Further, Reiki is a healing modality that is driven by the client’s free will: the level of healing that happens in a session is directly parallel to the healing the client has decided to allow, either on a conscious or subconscious level.
Reiki is an intelligent energy that knows where to go in the body and knows the exact right amount of energy to facilitate healing within us. Reiki works to help heal us on our emotional, physical, and mental levels. It harmonizes and balances our bodies so that we can feel calm, relaxed, nurtured, and de-stressed. There are no spiritual beliefs that you need to hold for Reiki to work. It’s energy. Energy doesn’t care what religion you are or aren’t. It does not discriminate. All you need is a willingness to be open to receive it.
How does Reiki improve health?
When the flow of the “life force energy” within us has been weakened, blocked, or disrupted, then a person can experience mental, emotional, and physical ailments. There may be many sources and situations in our lives that can cause us to become imbalanced, including emotional or physical trauma, injury, chronic health conditions, negative self-talk, trapped emotions, limiting beliefs, and negative programs. Reiki not only helps the body relax so that it can heal itself, it also allows the client to get to the root cause of the disease or issue.
Every client’s experience will be different because each person who has a Reiki session has different life situations and needs for healing. Some of the most common benefits of Reiki include:
- Deep relaxation that aids the body to release stress and tension
- Aiding better sleep
- Accelerating the body’s self-healing abilities
- Reducing chronic pain
- Supporting the immune system
- Reducing side effects of drugs and helping the body to recover from surgery and chemotherapy
- Complementing and enhancing the health care received in a hospital or from other health care providers
- Assisting the body in clearing itself from toxins
- Removing energy blockages, bringing the body into balance and harmony
- Releasing suppressed and blocked emotions due to past traumas
The list could go on and on, because the benefits of Reiki really are endless!